Passionate. No word describes Virat Kohli better. His passion for cricket has made him one of the best batsmen in the world across formats, and has also helped him grow into a ruthless captain. It's also passion that defines Kohli's emotional, effervescent and at times firecracker character. Virat Kohli does not hold back and that remains his strength.

Kohli approaches 30 as the most relentless and popular performer in the sport. He is already a World Cup winner (2011), the Player of the tournament at a World T20 (2014) and has led India to a record eight consecutive Test series wins. Purely as a batsman he is already close to the summit: by his 29th birthday he had more ODI hundreds (32) than anyone apart from Sachin Tendulkar (49), and averages 49 or better in all three formats. He is the only batsman to have achieved this feat.

He is widely considered to be one of the four great batsmen of his era, the others being Australia's Steven Smith, England's Joe Root and New Zealand's Kane Williamson.

In 2012, four years after his India debut, Kohli forced the cricket world's attention upon himself. In the fourth and final Test of a dismal Australia tour for India, who were already 3-0 down, Kohli came to the fore with a composed 116 in Adelaide. It was his maiden Test hundred, and the only century by an Indian batsman on that tour. Later, in the ODI triangular that followed, he uncorked an astonishing, unbeaten 86-ball 133 to help India chase down 321 in 36.4 overs against Sri Lanka. Soon after, he made an ODI career-best 183 against Pakistan in a chase of 331.

There is no better batsman than Kohli in chases: he says targets allow him to think clearly and pace his innings. He is unique in that he allies this clarity of thought with a classical batting technique and a supremely confident mindset. A stable head, sure footwork and firm wrists are part of Kohli's arsenal, which helps him play an array of audacious shots.

Fluent all around the ground, Kohli is equally confident off the front and back foot. And he isn't shy to move away from tradition and take guard a yard outside his crease, as he did on the tour of Australia in 2014-15. Having been embarrassed by James Anderson in England, he made this technical adjustment on the advice of India coach Ravi Shastri, and scored four centuries including twin hundreds in Adelaide. He finished the series as the second-highest run-getter behind Smith, as Australia won 2-0.

Since then, and in no small measure helped by playing Tests at home, India have won series against South Africa, England, Australia and New Zealand while winning away in the West Indies and twice in Sri Lanka.

The biggest turning point - and probably the most pivotal moment - of Kohli's career arrived on December 30, 2014, when MS Dhoni announced his unexpected retirement from Tests following the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. Kohli could not believe that Dhoni would no longer wear whites, and that he would now lead India. The second thought made him cry. "If you told me when I started playing cricket that at 26 I will be Test captain of India... no chance," is how he later described his feelings.

"A brat, arrogant and casual" was how Kohli described himself in 2008, when he then became the second India captain to lift the Under-19 World Cup. He excelled in the IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore, which put him on the world map and made sponsors line up at his doorstep, making him a brand even before he had established himself in international cricket. But as he steadily grew to become India's most dependable batsman, and not just a brand, Kohli realised he needed to rid of old, bad habits. He lost weight, gained focus and became a relentless force, supremely fit and quick across the turf, and perhaps the hungriest batsman in the world when it comes to converting ones into twos.

The IPL helped Kohli, like many other Indians, play positively. He is certain that his 52-ball 100* in a chase of 360 against Australia in the Jaipur ODI of 2013 (still the fastest by an Indian) was only possible because of his post-IPL mindset. In 2016, Kohli smacked four centuries in the tournament, having not scored even a single ton in his first eight seasons. When Royal Challengers finished as runners-up in 2016, Kohli was just 27 runs short of reaching an unprecedented 1000 runs for the season.

Kohli has played with men who presented him awards when he was a chubby-faced schoolboy, and some of the same men have ended up playing under his captaincy. Under Kohli, India have ascended to the No. 1 Test ranking and held onto it with an iron grip while also reaching the joint top position in ODIs. He has set his sights quite a bit higher, though: his quest is to create a legacy like the ones established by all-conquering captains like Clive Lloyd and Steve Waugh.
Nagraj Gollapudi

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